Firefly Aerospace will deliver 36 rocket engines to AST SpaceMobile, license it to build them and provide three years of engineering support under a deal valued at more than $1.3 billion, the two Texas companies announced on November 6, 2026. The engines will power Blacklift, a rocket designed for reuse that AST SpaceMobile plans to build itself to launch its BlueBird satellites from late 2028.

In a press release dated November 6, 2026, Firefly said it will supply 27 Miranda engines and nine vacuum-variant Vira engines for AST SpaceMobile’s first three rockets. AST SpaceMobile, in its own release issued the same day from Midland, Texas, described Blacklift as a 20-ton rocket designed for reusability and able to carry up to five BlueBird satellites per launch. The Miranda and Vira engines were developed for Eclipse, the medium launch vehicle Firefly is co-developing with Northrop Grumman, and that rocket’s first launch is listed for no earlier than 2027.

How the payments are structured

AST SpaceMobile’s release splits the agreement in two. Under the license agreement, it will pay approximately $800 million in upfront consideration, made up of $400 million in cash and 10 to 14 million shares of Class A Common Stock, with the share count set by a forward volume-weighted average price (VWAP) calculation. Under a separate supply and services agreement, it will pay $250 million for engines for its first three rocket launches and $250 million over three years for engineering support services.

Firefly’s release states that the stock it receives is subject to lock-up periods. Firefly keeps full ownership of its engine intellectual property and will continue to serve the government and commercial launch market, and the company described the agreement as non-competitive by design. AST SpaceMobile said it will produce the engines at a new engine manufacturing facility in the United States; neither release gives its location.

Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace, said in both companies’ releases:

“This is a bold transformational deal for Firefly, for AST SpaceMobile, and for the space industry.”

He added that the engine is the hardest and highest-stakes decision a company makes when it sets out to build its own rocket.

The engines behind the deal

According to Firefly, the Miranda engine has completed more than 175 hot fire tests totaling over 4,200 seconds. In a flight-like test at 110% of its 230,000 lbf thrust, the engine ran 20 seconds beyond the nominal 206-second flight duration. AST SpaceMobile’s release puts the accumulated test time at the equivalent of approximately 20 full first stage flights.

Both engines are scaled from the Reaver and Lightning engines that power Firefly’s Alpha rocket and use the same patented tap-off cycle. On Eclipse, seven Miranda engines power the first stage and one Vira engine powers the second stage, according to Firefly’s Eclipse web page, which lists a payload of 16,300 kg to low Earth orbit and a first stage designed for propulsive landing and reuse.

The test record has grown quickly. When Northrop Grumman announced its $50 million Eclipse investment on May 29, 2025, and the vehicle received the Eclipse name, more than 60 Miranda hot fire tests had been performed. In its second quarter 2026 results on August 11, 2026, Firefly reported that it had crossed 150 hot fire tests, including a flight-like Mission Duty Cycle run of 226 seconds.

Where Eclipse and AST SpaceMobile’s launch plans stand

The May 2025 release said Eclipse would first launch from Wallops Island, Virginia, as early as 2026. Firefly’s Eclipse page now lists the first launch from Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) no earlier than 2027.

AST SpaceMobile, which describes itself as building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones, assembles its BlueBird spacecraft in Midland, Texas. Each BlueBird array measures approximately 2,400 square feet (223 square meters). The company said Blacklift completes its long-held strategy of end-to-end vertical integration and supplements its existing launch arrangements: it will continue to use external providers, with agreements covering over 100 BlueBird satellites to be deployed cumulatively between 2027 and 2028. It also has access to further launches for US Government missions under its Defense Priorities and Allocations System (DPAS) rated program.

Abel Avellan, Founder, Chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, said in Firefly’s release that “Firefly is one of a few companies in the United States with a proven liquid engine of this scale.” Scott Wisniewski, President of AST SpaceMobile, said the Miranda engine “will allow us to leapfrog the traditional five-to-ten-year development cycle as we build Blacklift.”

What Firefly plans to do with the funds

Firefly said it will use the proceeds to expand hiring, buy long-lead materials, acquire equipment and upgrade infrastructure, including multiple new test bays at its Rocket Ranch in Briggs, Texas. The company said the steps are meant to increase launch vehicle production and testing and bring forward milestones across its core programs. “The agreement supercharges Firefly’s production system,” Kim said.

The deal arrives as Firefly’s revenue grows. The company reported record second quarter 2026 revenue of $117.7 million, up 45.5% from the prior quarter, and said it expects 2026 full-year revenue of between $420 million and $450 million. Its second quarter results also listed an extension of its Lockheed Martin Alpha agreement to up to 25 Alpha launches through 2031.

AirPro News analysis

The agreement gives Firefly an outside customer for engines developed for a rocket whose first launch is listed for no earlier than 2027, with the license portion paid upfront in cash and stock. Firefly says the money will expand production and testing across its launch portfolio, which includes Eclipse. For AST SpaceMobile, Blacklift is an addition to, not a replacement for, external launch agreements covering over 100 BlueBird satellites in 2027 and 2028. Firefly supplies the engines for the first three rockets; beyond those, AST SpaceMobile holds a license to build its own at a new US facility whose location has not been disclosed.

What comes next

Firefly will discuss the agreement on its Third Quarter 2026 Earnings call at 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 10, 2026. AST SpaceMobile will hold an unveiling event for the Blacklift rocket on Thursday, November 12, 2026, in New York City, with a webcast on its Investor Relations website.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on November 5, 2026, proposed three changes to its Part 450 commercial launch and reentry rules that would clarify when an operator must abort a flight and add a new way to show public protection when a vehicle makes an uncontrolled return from orbit. The agency also issued a final rule of technical corrections and said a broader overhaul of its licensing framework will begin in 2027.

Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced the package in an FAA release dated November 5, 2026, together with a hiring drive for the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation. Public comments on five earlier Part 450 proposals, announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) on October 6, 2026, closed on November 4, 2026.

What the three proposals would change

Ending flight abort by phase of flight

The first proposal (RIN 2120-AM37, docket FAA-2026-9943) revises § 450.108(e). As currently written, that paragraph says an operator using flight abort as a hazard control strategy “is not required to initiate flight abort to protect against high consequence events” once certain conditions are met, and those conditions apply to the remainder of the flight.

The FAA would instead apply the exception “to a phase of flight in which the conditions are present,” so an operator could turn flight abort off in one phase and back on in a later one. The paragraph’s heading would change from “End of flight abort” to “End of flight safety limits.” The agency stressed that the paragraph “does not require an operator to turn off flight abort capability” and said the change adds no costs, while “there may be minimal cost savings.”

One calculation for flight safety limits

The second proposal (RIN 2120-AM43, docket FAA-2026-9937) rewrites § 450.108(c)(4), which requires flight safety limits that prevent conditional expected casualties (CEC) “greater than 1 × 10−2 in uncontrolled areas.” The FAA said the current wording has led applicants to misread whether two separate calculations are needed.

Under the proposal, CEC would be “averaged over outcomes that result in either flight abort or flight outside the limits of a useful mission,” with the threshold unchanged. The FAA expects 40 new license applications over five years and describes the savings as “minimal.”

Vehicle breakup during uncontrolled reentry

The third proposal (RIN 2120-AM33, docket FAA-2026-9942) adds an option to § 450.101(c)(2). Operators must currently protect against high consequence events through flight abort, by keeping risk below a threshold of “1 × 10−3 conditional expected casualties,” or through demonstrated reliability. The new option would let an applicant show “sufficient breakup of the launch or reentry vehicle” during an uncontrolled atmospheric return, including all vehicle components and undeployed payloads.

The FAA would define that event as “the passive descent of a launch or reentry vehicle from orbit that occurs as a result of natural orbital decay.” Applicants would rely on data already required under §§ 450.121 and 450.135(b), so no new analysis would be needed. The agency estimates each applicant would save about 60 hours of aerospace engineer labor, or $5,777 per application, and puts total savings at $9,674 per application.

All three notices were issued by Anh Minh Ngoc Nguyen, Deputy Associate Administrator of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation. The final rule, identified as 2120-AM32, applies minor technical corrections across the commercial space rules.

How the November package builds on October’s proposals

USDOT announced the first five proposals on October 6, 2026, after their publication in the Federal Register on October 5, 2026. They would let operators submit launch applications electronically, combine three required safety analyses into a single submission and drop duplicative analyses where another approved method already meets a requirement. Both sets of proposals amend the FAA’s Part 450 licensing rule.

The October proposals were developed with the USDOT Space Policy Administration, Coordination, and Execution (SPACE) Task Force, and the FAA said the November actions align with the Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry order, covered in the 2025 commercial space executive order. The FAA also pointed to its proposed rule to waive environmental laws and regulations it described as unnecessary, the subject of the FAA’s environmental waiver proposal.

The FAA said the U.S. was responsible for 217 of the 329 commercial space launches worldwide in 2025. USDOT expects 10,000 FAA-licensed launches and reentries per year by 2035, and the FAA said its 2027 overhaul is meant to support an anticipated 1,000 launches per year by 2030.

What comes next for operators and the FAA

The Office of Commercial Space Transportation is adding an Associate Administrator and a new team of aerospace engineers for safety analysis, evaluations and mission authorizations, which USDOT said is intended to speed application turnaround. The FAA is also seeking public and industry input on where to build new spaceports and on creating “priority airspace” for space launch routes.

Under Secretary for Transportation Ryan McCormack said in the FAA release, “We’re leaving no stone unturned to safely reform licensing and environmental regulations.” Duffy described the aim as “unleashing American space dominance while never compromising on safety.”

AirPro News analysis

By the FAA’s own estimates, these three proposals are clarifications with modest savings: about 60 engineering hours and $9,674 per application for the reentry option, and savings the agency calls “minimal” for the two flight abort changes. For launch operators, the practical gain is less ambiguity in how flight safety limits are calculated and more freedom to manage flight abort by phase of flight. The larger structural change the agency has announced is the licensing overhaul it plans to begin in 2027.

Lockheed Martin is adding more than 100 positions to its Orion assembly workforce at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with the team working three shifts a day, seven days a week, to deliver Orion spacecraft for Artemis III, IV and V faster than before. The company described the changes in a feature published on November 5, 2026.

Lockheed Martin said the acceleration responds to NASA’s announced Artemis updates, including the agency’s updated Artemis architecture and its Ignition initiatives. Three Orion spacecraft were already in assembly and test when NASA announced its accelerated direction, and teams at Kennedy, the Michoud Assembly Facility and across the supply chain began looking for ways to move faster while still meeting safety, quality and certification requirements, according to the company.

From development to production

Lockheed Martin said the Orion team is trading a development mindset for a production mindset. That means a focus on repeatability, reusing hardware where possible, improving the flow of work, staging hardware before it is needed and streamlining tests for designs that are already qualified.

“Once a design is qualified, acceptance testing can focus on verifying that each unit was built correctly,” said Tim Norick, Lockheed Martin’s Orion program hardware director. He said experience from previous flights is being used to reduce testing time and scope “while preserving the must-do tests” needed to confirm flight readiness and protect crew safety.

The program is also keeping specialized skills in place by moving directly from one vehicle build to the next instead of allowing long production gaps. Qualified hardware from earlier Artemis missions is being refurbished and reused to protect upcoming schedules, and the company said reuse is key to the cost savings in the production contract. Lockheed Martin did not disclose the value of those savings.

More people, more shifts and a rapid response team

The new positions at Kennedy span hands-on and support roles. Scott Daniels, Lockheed Martin’s Orion Assembly, Integration and Test director at Kennedy, said: “Acceleration comes down to three things: putting more resources against the work.” He named efficiency and reducing unnecessary scope and rework as the other two.

A rapid response team of experienced engineers and specialists now handles urgent technical issues, so that the core teams can stay on planned integration, certification and delivery work. “The rapid response team gives us a deeper bench of subject matter experts,” said Brian Hinde, Lockheed Martin’s Orion Production Engineering senior manager. He said authority is being embedded at various levels so that problems are addressed quickly.

Heat shields and the supply chain

Lockheed Martin said it is working with suppliers through targeted incentives and investments in tooling and equipment. It is also evaluating alternative sources for some hardware and expanding internal production where needed.

The feature gives one production-rate figure, for the heat shield. At the Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana, investments increased output of Avcoat heat shield material from about four billets per week to more than 20, according to the company. Lockheed Martin said facility expansion and new equipment have greatly increased heat shield capacity for Artemis III, IV, V and future Orion spacecraft.

Where the Artemis schedule stands

The production push follows a change in how NASA plans to fly the program. In a news release dated February 27, 2026, NASA said it was increasing the cadence of Artemis missions, standardizing the vehicle configuration, adding a mission in 2027 and calling for at least one lunar surface landing every year after that.

Under that plan, Artemis III became a test flight in low Earth orbit, planned for 2027, to prepare for the Artemis IV landing in 2028. NASA said the mission would aim to include a rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin, in-space tests of the docked vehicles, and integrated checks of life support, communications and propulsion.

“NASA must standardize its approach, increase flight rate safely, and execute on the President’s national space policy.”

That was NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman in the February release. Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said that once Artemis I, Artemis II and the revised Artemis III are complete, changing the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion configuration would be needlessly complicated. “Instead, we want to keep testing like we fly and have flown,” he said. NASA said it would fly landing missions in as close to the same Earth ascent configuration as possible.

In its feature, Lockheed Martin said NASA’s Artemis II mission proved Orion can carry astronauts farther from Earth than any human-rated spacecraft has gone.

What comes next

Lockheed Martin said the Orion for Artemis III is nearing completion, and that the spacecraft for Artemis IV and V are already deep in production. The company said it is helping build the industrial capacity, workforce and production approach needed for a more regular cadence of lunar exploration.

According to the company, the next three Orion missions will advance Artemis, support development of a Moon Base and contribute to the long-term goal of sending humans to Mars. Lockheed Martin did not give delivery dates for the individual spacecraft.